Private sector lender ICICI Bank on April 24 clocked a massive 260.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in standalone profit at Rs 4,402.61 crore for quarter ending March 2021. The profit in the corresponding period last year stood at Rs 1,221.4 crore. The number was below the CNBC-TV18 poll estimates which pegged it at Rs 4,862.8 crore, partly due to higher tax cost.
Net interest income (NII), the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 16.9 per cent to Rs 10,431.13 crore in Q4FY21, compared to Rs 8,926.9 crore in Q4FY20.
The net interest margin at 3.84 percent in March quarter FY21 expanded sequentially from 3.67 percent in the quarter ended December 2020, but contracted a bit year-on-year against 3.87 percent in March quarter 2020.
Advances at Rs 7.33 lakh crore as of March 2021 increased by 14 percent YoY, with retail loan portfolio growth at 20 percent YoY which comprised 67 percent of the total loan portfolio.
“Growth in the performing domestic corporate portfolio was about 13 per cent year-on-year driven by disbursements to higher rated corporates and public sector undertakings (PSUs) across various sectors to meet their working capital and capital expenditure requirements,” said the bank, adding deposits at the end of March 2021 grew by 21 percent year-on-year to Rs 9.3 lakh crore.
The bank said it had a network of 5,266 branches and 14,136 ATMs at the end of March 2021.
Provisions and contingencies, as expected, fell sharply by 51.7 per cent year-on-year to Rs 2,883.47 crore in the quarter ended March 2021, but the same increased 5.2 per cent on the sequential basis.
During Q4FY21, ICICI Bank said it utilised contingency provision amounting to Rs 3,509 crore towards proforma NPAs as of December 2020, as these loans have now been classified as per the RBI guidelines.
“Further, the bank made additional COVID-19 related provisions of Rs 1,000 crore during March quarter FY21, and as of March 2021, the bank held COVID-19-related provision of Rs 7,475 crore,” the private sector lender added.
On the asset quality front, the lender said the net NPA ratio declined to 1.14 percent from 1.26 percent (on a proforma basis at December 2020.)
“Excluding NPAs, the total fund based outstanding to all borrowers was Rs 3,927 crore, or about 0.5 per cent of the total loan portfolio, at March 2021. The fund-based and non-fund based outstanding to borrowers rated BB and below (excluding fund and non-fund based outstanding to NPAs) was Rs 13,098 crore at March 2021 compared to Rs 13,654 crore at December 2020,” the bank added.
Recoveries and upgrades, excluding recoveries from proforma NPAs, write-offs and sale, from non-performing loans were Rs 2,560 crore in the quarter ended March 2021, said the bank.
“There has been a bit of a slowdown in the current quarter because of second wave, but we have strengthened our balance sheet, platforms, with portfolio quality among the best in class,” said the management of the bank in its press conference, as reported by CNBC-TV18.
The management further said the bank has written off Rs 2,700 crore of loans in Q4FY21 against Rs 5,400 crore in Q4FY20. “About Rs 4,000 crore of slippages came from retail in Q4 and the rest from corporate & SME,” the report added.
Non-interest income (other income) saw a 3.4 per cent year-on-year decline at Rs 4,111.35 crore for the March quarter. “Fee income grew by 6 percent year-on-year to Rs 3,815 crore in Q4FY21. There was a treasury loss of Rs 25 crore during the quarter compared to a profit of Rs 242 crore in the corresponding period,” the bank added.
“The treasury loss in Q4FY21 reflects the increase in yields on fixed income and government securities,” it said.
Pre-provision operating profit (PPoP) increased 15.6 percent to Rs 8,539.83 crore in Q4FY21 compared to the corresponding period.
Tax expenses for the quarter at Rs 1,253.75 crore shot up significantly by 522.9 percent over Rs 201.29 crore in March quarter 2020.
In the financial year FY21, the bank registered a massive 104.2 percent year-on-year growth in profit at Rs 16,192.68 and net interest income grew by 17.2 percent to Rs 38,989.43 crore compared to the previous year.
ICICI Bank has recommended a dividend of Rs 2 per share.
On Saturday, it approved fund raising by way of issuances of debt securities including by way of non-convertible debentures in domestic markets up to an overall limit of around Rs 20,000 crore by way of private placement and issuances of bonds/notes/offshore certificate of deposits in overseas markets up to $1.50 billion in single/multiple tranches for a period of one year.
At the consolidated level, its profit after tax came in at Rs 4,886 crore, up sharply compared to Rs 1,251 crore in Q4FY20.
Consolidated assets grew by 14 percent year-on-year to Rs 15,73,812 crore at the end of March 2021, said the bank.
ICICI Bank’s share price has registered an 8.3 percent gain in calendar year 2021 so far and shot up 64 percent in the last one year, outshining the Bank Nifty that clocked 1.7 percent and 57 percent gains, respectively.
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Mutual funds reduced their shareholding in ICICI Bank to 26.07 percent at the end of March 2021, from 26.35 percent as of December 2020. In the same period, LIC also lowered its stake in the bank to 8.23 percent from 8.4 percent, but foreign portfolio investors increased stake in the bank to 47.78 percent from 47.43 percent.
The name of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which had a 1.35 percent stake, as of December 2020 under the FPI category, did not appear in the latest shareholding pattern of March 2021.
